§ Mr. MilburnTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) if she will provide a table indicating the average gross weekly earnings of(a) women and (b) men in each county area in the northern region for each year from 1979, (i) at current prices and (ii) at 1979 prices;
(2) if she will provide a table indicating the average gross weekly earnings of (a) women and (b) men in each standard region for each year from 1979 at (i) current prices and (ii) 1979 prices;
(3) if she will provide a table indicating the numbers and proportion of (a) women and (b) men earning less than 68 per cent. of the national average gross weekly wage in each county area in the northern region in (i) 1979 and (ii) 1991;
(4) if she will provide a table indicating the proportion of (a) women and (b) men earning less than 68 per cent. of the national average gross weekly wage in each standard region in (i) 1979 and (ii) 1991;
(5) if she will provide a table indicating the number of (a) women and (b) men earning less than 68 per cent. of the national average gross weekly wage in each standard region in (i) 1979 and (ii) 1991.
§ Mr. McLoughlinThe average gross weekly earnings of men and women by standard region and county can be found in tables 110 and 113 of part E of the new earnings survey report from 1979 onwards. Information on the retail prices index—all items—to convert 1979 figures to 1991 prices is published in table 6.4 of the latestEmployment Gazette for April 1991, and in table 26 of the annual supplement to Economic Trends for April of earlier years. Copies of the publications are available in the Library.
Sixty-eight per cent. of average gross weekly earnings for all full-time adult employees was £60.09 in 1979 and 179W £193.06 in 1991. Estimates of the numbers earning less than these amounts are not available. The proportions earning less than the available figures which are closest to these are shown in the table.
Full-time employees whose pay was not affected by absence Percentage1 with weekly earnings less than: April 1979 £60 April 1991 £60 Women Men Women Men Standard Regions South East 41.8 6.4 31.6 13–0 East Anglia 59.3 10.7 56.2 20.8 South West 60.5 11.8 53.7 22.3 West Midlands 56.6 7.0 57.6 21.3 East Midlands 59.8 8.4 57.5 21.7 Yorkshire and Humberside 61.0 8.6 56.4 23.2 North West 58.2 8.7 54.5 20.9 North 60.2 8.1 59.4 22.0 Wales 56.8 9.9 57.7 24.8 Scotland 59.5 9.3 54.7 23.2 Counties in the Northern region Tyne and Wear MC 58.2 9.4 57.2 22.5 Cleveland 54.4 4.8 58.9 20.9 Cumbria 67.6 7.8 57.4 16.7 Durham 62.9 8.4 63.9 25.6 Northumberland 62.8 9.8 65.0 26.7 1 The percentages are not strictly comparable because the 1979 figures are for men aged 21 and over and women aged 18 and over while the 1991 figures are for men and women on adult rates of pay. Additional tables in part F of the 1983 NES report provide information on the change. Source: New earnings survey, 1979 and 1991.